9 Feature Stories You Can't Miss This Week: Cults, Camps, Creeps, And Cancellations

This week for BuzzFeed News, Jesse Hyde uncovers the dark underbelly of one of America's friendliest cults. Read that and these other great stories from BuzzFeed and around the web.

1. Bringing Down America's Happiest Christian Cult — BuzzFeed News

Chicago Tribune via Newscom

For decades, the freewheeling hippies of Jesus People USA —“God’s forever family” — forged one of the most influential movements in Christianity. They were also Jaime Prater’s family, until he made a documentary exposing the commune’s darkest secrets. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

2. The Troubled Resurrection of Black America's Historic Beach Haven — BuzzFeed News

Arthur P. Bedou Portfolio

Gulfside Assembly — the only place where black Americans could visit a coastal beach during Jim Crow — was once known as a civil rights mecca. Since Hurricane Katrina laid ruin to the retreat, John Stanton discovers how a dedicated few are struggling to keep it from fading into historical obscurity. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

3. Larry King Is Preparing for the Final Cancellation —The New York Times Magazine

Photograph by Graeme Mitchell for The New York Times

Mark Leibovich talks to the 81-year-old cable news legend about moving on: from CNN but also, more existentially, from his time on earth. "King would love to attend his own funeral. He would watch invisibly over the proceedings and laugh." Read it at The New York Times Magazine.

4. Slender Man Is Watching — New York

New York

New York

After meticulously combing through court records, Lisa Miller recounts the events surrounding the chilling "Slender Man Stabbing," in which two girls attacked their friend as a tribute to an online character. "The problem wasn’t that Morgan and Anissa didn’t know they were living in a fantasy world...The problem was that they couldn’t — or didn’t — extricate themselves from the ­fantasy." Read it at New York.

5. Inside the Persistent Boys Club of Animation — BuzzFeed News

Monique Steele for BuzzFeed News

Ariane Lange speaks to several women who have worked in animation for anywhere from a few years to six decades about how things have gotten better in their industry — and how they haven’t. “I saw many of my male colleagues advance a lot quicker than I did, just because they could bullshit with the boys." Read it at BuzzFeed News.

6. Searching for Sugar Daddy — GQ

Photograph by Jessica Craig-Martin for GQ

Taffy Brodesser-Akner's deep dive into the debauchery and deception of the sugar daddy economy. "Everyone here is on the hustle, and everyone here thinks they're winning. And so what's so wrong with that? Who exactly is getting hurt?" Read it at GQ.

7. Donald Trump and the White Nationalists — The New Yorker

Illustration by Christoph Niemann for The New Yorker

Evan Osnos hits the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and sees what he can glean from the candidate's most right-leaning, dejected, and increasingly essential supporters. "To inhabit Trump’s landscape for a while, to chase his jet or stay behind with his fans in a half-dozen states, is to encounter a confederacy of the frustrated." Read it at The New Yorker.

8. The Hacker Heartthrob From "Mr. Robot" Who Owned Summer TV — BuzzFeed News

Photograph by Cait Oppermann for BuzzFeed News

Alison Willmore finds out how Rami Malek went from “hey, it’s that guy” to the breakout star of the season as Elliot Alderson on USA’s new hit dark drama. “I microwave all my electronics now. I’ve had to buy three new computers since this show started." Read it at BuzzFeed News.

9. Drag Queens of the Bible Belt — BuzzFeed News

Dahlia El-Shafei

Tyler Gillespie heads South to glimpse behind the scenes of the fierce and ever-enduring 44th annual Miss Gay Arkansas Pageant. “'RuPaul’s Drag Race' seems to be a shortcut to gaining fame, but being Miss Gay America is still one of the most prestigious achievements in the female illusion world.” Read it at BuzzFeed News.